A toolmaker has been awarded £450,000 in compensation after suffering a sickening hand injury in an accident at work.

A toolmaker has been awarded £450,000 in compensation after suffering a sickening hand injury in an accident at work.

David Taylor lost fingers on his left hand during the horrific incident at engineering firm Renold Chain in Stockport.

He was moving a heavy tool from a bench, with a crane and sling, when it slipped from its strapping and came hurtling towards him.

When Mr Taylor, 52, deflected the tool, his left hand became caught in the sling and it was crushed against the hook of the crane.

He pulled his hand free and was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital for an 18-hour operation – but he lost half his thumb, the tip of his index finger, his middle and ring fingers down to the knuckle and the whole of his little finger.

Mr Taylor took legal action against Renold Chain and has now been awarded £450,000 after the company admitted liability and settled the case.

He said: “People will look at the compensation amount but they don’t realise the tremendous physical pain and, perhaps even more devastating, the psychological anguish that you go through with an injury like this.

Mr Taylor, from Swinton, Salford, sustained the hand injury at the Renold Chain in September 2011. He was repairing one of the tools at the chain manufacturer’s site in Bredbury when it happened.

The dad-of-one told the M.E.N. he felt as though he had sacrificed his hand to save his life – as the tool could have cut him in half had he not deflected it.

He said he suffered post-traumatic stress following the accident and would often have terrifying flashbacks.

Mr Taylor added the injury had ‘unforeseen’ effects too – like being unable to watch his talented swimmer son Sam, 11, train and compete, because the moisture in the air at pools would affect his wounds.

Mr Taylor is now set to have a pioneering operation to graft part of his toe to this thumb at Wythenshawe hospital.

After the operation he plans to go back to work at Renold Chain.

He praised his surgeon, Vivien Lees, at Wythenshawe, for the treatment he received there.

He said: “People say a lot of negative things about the NHS but every person I met at the hospital was amazing. Wythenshawe hospital is absolutely top rate.”

And Mr Taylor praised Pauline Chandler, a specialist in industrial injury work at Manchester firm Pannone, who represented him.

Ms Chandler said: “This was a serious injury, particularly for a man whose trade depends on his hands. Renold Chain admitted liability and made a reasonable offer to settle the claim quickly, but this was a devastating accident that shouldn’t have happened.”